One thought on your encryption key cut out: if your kids are still having
trouble remembering which way to encrypt and which way to decrypt -- just make a
self-reversing wheel. Change the order of the letters on the inner wheel to be
the reverse of the letters on the outer wheel. Encryption and Decryption then
use an identical algorithm.

Proof that this is the case is rather trivial. Let each letter be identified by
an integer 0 to 25. Reversing the inner ring is in effect performing the
operation F(n) = c - n mod 26.
All you need to do is examine what F(F(n)) yields.

Of course, a child having this information might more easily crack their
siblings secret messages, but this might be a desirable attribute for younger
children.

—Trent Tobler

Thanks Trent, for the good idea. You are (as always) quite correct, so I have
updated it.

Other Printables

Need ruled paper large enough for a kindergartener? How about practicing
your numbers? Here ya go…

Comment

I am so excited to find this! My son is autistic so we have to do LOTS of
practice work. I'm so tired of trying to hunt down writing lines. Thanks so much
for taking the time to do this. Much appreciation!!!

—Luna

Comment

I just want to thank you for putting free things for me to use with my
kindergarten class. As you probably know I already spend quite a bit
each year for this and that for my youn uns! It's refreshing to find
quality free things.

Thanks again,

—Diane

Comment

I just want to thank you for putting free things for me to use with my
kindergarten class. As you probably know I already spend quite a bit
each year for this and that for my youn uns! It's refreshing to find
quality free things.

—Diane Crowe

Printables for Children

With two young children who love to crayon their way through reams of paper,
I've spent a fair amount of time scowering the web for printable coloring pages
of all sorts. And when I have an itch to have the children do something more
interesting, I often have to make it myself.

The following are various pages that you can print out and share with your
children.

Clock

Been teaching my daughter to tell time with one of those analog contraptions,
but instead of forking over money for an adjustable clock, I figured I would
make one that she can write on and build as well.

Yeah, the hands are pretty funny, but she's made a small collection of them
in various colors, so allow your child to get creative on that one.

Math Homework

There is a craze going around my neighborhood, where parents will spent $100
a month to buy "math homework" called Kumon. I figured I could make it myself
quite easily with this spreadsheet.

To use it, go to the equation at the bottom right corner of the sheet, and
change the numbers to be the largest number possible for the top number and
the bottom, and then change the operator to whatever you want, and print it.

Want a new homework page? Simply refresh the spreadsheet…

Cryptographic Key

Being a geek in my soul (alright, I display it more overtly), I decided to
explain encryption to my children, and built a simple
Caesar cipher key engine. Ah, great fun, but the kids would get confused
as whether they were encrypting by reading the letters outward or inwards.

Anyway, print two copies of this, and cut one of them on the inner circle, and
shove a thumbtack through the center of both papers, and rotate until you have
the desired position. Just remember at least one pair, so that you'll have an
easier time of decrypting it.